Dirt track runs in family for Layne

Published
12:00 am CDT, Wednesday, April 29, 2015

The racing season didn’t start well for Justin Layne.

The 26-year-old two-time defending champion in the street stock division at Jacksonville Speedway broke a water pump, apparently ending his run on opening night before it started. But after Layne took over his father’s car, Layne busted the transmission and drive shaft in the second car.

“I tore up two cars and didn’t get to finish the race,’’ Layne said. “We went back home and thrashed for two weeks, went back out and got a win in my car.’’

Layne, who won the second night out, might only be in his fourth season as a driver, but he’s already spent a lifetime in the sport. The resident of Bluffs remembers those days as youngster sitting in the stands at Jacksonville Speedway when his father, Walt, drove the push truck.

“I got to ride in the push truck a few times,’’ Layne said. “Once I got a little older, they let me drive it a couple times. Once you start racing, it gets in your blood. I don’t think you can kick it.’’

After racing go karts for several years, Layne joined his best friend, Chuck Mitchell, in preparing a car Mitchell raced. The two met at Triopia High School. After the final school bell rang, they’d head to a race shop owned by Bill West, Mitchell’s grandfather.

Mitchell, who drives a late model, and Layne “are best friends to this day,’’ said Layne, who refers to West as grandpa.

Eventually, Layne moved from serving as a mechanic and crew member to driving just four years ago with a gentle push from his father.

“I never thought I’d see the chance I’d get to race,’’ Layne said. “One day, my dad and I were talking. He said, ‘Let’s go racing.’ It took two years to get that car together. It’s still the same car I drive today.’’

His father raced in the sportsman class years ago. Perhaps he knew Justin wanted to get on the track himself. The two of them turned a street legal car into a race car.

“Lots of work and lots of money,’’ Layne said.

From his days hanging around his father, Chuck Mitchell and Bill West, “I knew quite a bit about how to set up and what to do to a car,’’ Layne said. “I had to figure out how to drive it, get to the front and keep it in one piece.’’

Layne’s father once again scratched the racing itch. He’s back in a race car for the third straight season. Walt races a street stock, just like his son. They arrive as a team, one pulling the enclosed trailer with one car, the tires and the tools with the other one pulling another trailer with the second car.

They share everything, except for the same piece of race track.

“If it’s him or me for the win, we’re not going to give each other an inch,’’ Layne said. “We see who gets there first. When we’re side by side, it’s a blast racing against my dad.’’

Justin Layne works two jobs, a full-time spot with J.P. Evans Construction and a side job with his father’s construction company. Then he spends most of his free time – when he can find some – on the car, the yellow No. 711.

“They’re a full-time job themselves,’’ Layne said. “You have to work all of that just to pay for them.’’

Years after he sat there in the Jacksonville Speedway bleachers with his mother, aunts and uncles, Justin Layne still can’t believe he’s a driver, let alone a champion.

“It’s wonderful to say I’m a driver,’’ Layne said. “In the few years I’ve raced, I’ve won the championship twice. I couldn’t ask for much more or better luck.’’

Layne will be back in action this Friday night at Jacksonville Speedway. Joining the street stock division will be 410 winged sprint cars, 305 winged sprints, micro sprints and hornets.